Adding water to the mash.

I am a little confused do you add the water to the grain or the grain to the water? and what differance does it make? I have been doing partial mashes so far (2) and have been adding the water to my grains, so far drinking my oatmeal stout and it taste great.

I think you'll find it doesn't matter.

Brewing is a craft so although there are core principles to stick to then the rest is down to the brewer and equipment.

I personaly pour the water onto the grain. It works for me and my set up.
I use a cooler mash tun.

I mash in a cooler. To account for the loss of temp. because of a reletively cool cooler, preheat you mash cooler. I start the initial water a few degrees hot(about 5), pour my water into the cooler and shut the lid for 5 minutes prior to adding the grain. I'll then check the temp. it normally has droped five degrees and the cooler is up to temp. After that the cooler is preheated and will not drop more than a degree or two an hour. If your grain is room temp your strike water should be in the 170-175 range for a normal size batch. It will immediately go into the 150s when you add the grain. From that point you can add boiling water, cold water, or just stir well to modify the temp to the exact degree during the first few minute as you are saturating the grain bed (although you should not be too far off). So to answer your question, I add grain to the water. If you are not a cooler masher then I assume it does not matter too much.

What he said

I found that, with single infusion mashes, it is better to add the grain to the water. Since you dough-in above the gelatinization temperature of barley starch you are more likely to get dough balls when you add the water to the grains.

Kai

Infusion mash - fly sparge MLT - I add grain to water

I mash in a converted keg. I heat water in it, then add the crushed grain to the water.

I know in commercial breweries, they use a system that mixes the grain with hot water as it goes to the mashtun - I have to admit that my tinkering demon is wondering how hard it would be to set something like that up.

I've done both with no REAL difference in results.

I've found that I prefer to pour the grain into the water though. Simply because the very first time I used my cooler MLT the braid came off. I've since corrected that, but I still like to "bury" my braid first.

From the 1881 Cyclopedia, " Pour the grain into the boiling water from a height of three feet."

The important thing is to stir it gently until all of the grain is wet and the temperature is uniform.

With my system (cooler with false bottom), it is easy to get a stuck sparge if I add water to grain. I also find it difficult to mix thoroughly if I add grain to water, so I add enough water to support the grain, then alternate with a bit of grain, and a bit of water, till it's all done.

-a.